Ok. I’ve had a whole
week without any work to go to. So now
I’m trying to get used to being retired again.
It’s not that easy. Being retired
turns out to be a little like a constant New Years resolution. Now that I’m not working, I think, I’ll have
time to become the better person I always wanted to be. So far I have meditation, a weight lifting
program for my bum knee, a daily 10,000 steps (which turns out to take an hour
and a half to do, provided most of that hour is not spent in a coffee shop) and
interval training on the bike every other day, which the New York Times health
section is currently saying is a must. And I'll have to squeeze in yoga on the in-between days. But I see that that program is barely complete.
Apparently I need to do a daily art exercise, according to
the monthly paper I get from our local art store. And my band mates suggested I actually
practice before I come to band every week if I’m going to insist on playing the
drum. And I can’t think where or how I
will ever learn to play Chopin on the piano. ( I am somewhat impeded by not being able to play the piano at all and
have had a life-long inability to read music, even though everyone around me
including my 14 year old grandson says it’s perfectly simple.)
So, whereas I always thought retirement would see me happily
bio-degrading, with my feet up by the fire with a good book and lots of tea, I
haven’t read a thing except the paper, and that before breakfast to get it out
of the way and clear the rest of my day for self improvement. I keep taking books out of the library,
because I love being able to go to the library in the middle of the day, and
then eventually I take them back unread, and pay the fines, and get some
more.
On my way to the library I pass the other coffee shop, the
one that isn’t Starbucks, and I see the place heaving with happy seniors all
sitting together in clumps talking and drinking coffee without any sense of
urgency about the need to self-improve.
What must that be like? I ask myself.
Their self-improvement list probably has hippy stuff on it like “spend
more time with friends at independent coffee shop, work in the garden when it’s
not raining, read books by the fire...”
Obviously I’m a little envious, I won’t lie. In fact I’ve always envied people who can
relax and not feel they’re letting the side down if they stay completely
unimproved.
Clearly I need to learn to use Excel, something that eluded
me my whole working life, to make a spreadsheet so I can check off my daily
improvements. Think how smug I will be,
soaking wet and victoriously putting a ‘check’ next to ’10,000 steps’ while the
rest of the retirees are having a laugh with their pals inside a warm, snug
independent coffee shop, not wondering where the day had gone.
But here’s the problem.
For some reason I’m not improving at the rate I’d hoped. I have the list, and I have what appears to
be a whole day ahead of me, and by the end of the day I’ve barely done two
things on it. Why? A forensic analysis of my day includes things
like;
- met friend at grocery store and we talked for over an hour in the pasta
aisle, annoying everyone who was trying to reach for the spaghettini.
-Arrived home, found re-run of “Miss Fisher”
which I missed.
-Saw great recipe for
scones on re-run of America’s Test Kitchen.
-Made scones.
-Ate scones by fire
with husband.
-Dinner time. Day shot.
Later, in my lounger, with a glass of wine, watching American Idol in a state of complete unimprovement, I hold my glass out to my husband for a touch up. “J-Lo is right. She was pretty
pitchy,” I comment.
She should practice every day. She'd soon improve.
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